Six out of ten riskiest ports are in the US: RMS

On the first anniversary of China’s Tianjin Port disaster, Risk Management Solutions (RMS), which has offices in Bermuda, reported that six out of ten most at risk ports are in the US with Asia-Pacific and European ports also a “major concern.”

RMS, a risk management provider, has analysed the catastrophic risk of the world’s ports and ranked the top ten for greatest potential loss.

The analysis demonstrates that, while the riskiest ports are in Nagoya, Japan (estimated marine cargo loss of $2.3 billion) and Guangzhou, China (loss of $2 billion), six of the top ten riskiest ports are in the US, with the last two in Europe.

It is not just the biggest container hubs that have a high risk of loss, according to the RMS analysis, but smaller ports in the US such as Plaquemines in Los Angeles and Pascagoula in Mississippi, as well as Bremerhaven in Germany are included in the ranking due to their cargo type and the natural hazards they face.

The study follows a series of marine catastrophes, namely the 2015 Tianjin explosion (more than $3 billion losses), Superstorm Sandy in 2012 (estimated loss of $3 billion of which approximately $2 billion was cargo loss) and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

“Surprisingly, a port’s size and its catastrophe loss potential are not strongly correlated. For example, while China may be king for volume of container traffic, our study found that many smaller U.S. ports rank more highly for risk, largely due to hurricanes,” said Chris Folkman, director, product management at RMS.

“Outdated techniques and incomplete data have obscured many high-risk locations.”
The use of containers in shipping has increased catastrophic risk exposures for marine insurers due to the increasing size of ships and the increasing capacities of ports and storage facilities, according to the report.

Folkman noted: “The value of global catastrophe-exposed cargo is huge and is expected to continue growing.”